Crew view

The biggest announced home crowd in nearly two years watched the Crew go a man up in the seventh minute against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, only to somehow come away with a 1-0 loss. A modest two-game winning streak has been followed by consecutive shutout losses, and the season continues to spiral down the drain. Coach Robert Warzycha described it as the loss that will hurt the most, and it’s fair to wonder if it will have the same impact on his future with the club.

Man disadvantage

The next time the Crew is afforded the opportunity to play with a man advantage, it might consider trying to decline the option. The Crew has twice played in games where the opposition saw a player get sent off, and the results have not been pretty: no goals in 162 minutes. Portland fell behind the Crew 1-0 early on July 7 but did not allow a goal after losing Pa-Modou Kah in the 11th minute. The Sounders lost Leonardo Gonzalez, yet even managed to score the winning goal. “It hurts, especially at home, to play pretty much the entire game a man up and not be able to score,” Crew defender Chad Marshall said.

Replacing Higuain

Forward Federico Higuain was unavailable because of a yellow-card suspension, and his absence was felt in a number of ways. Danny O’Rourke wore the captain’s armband, Ryan Finley replaced Higuain at forward and players such as Wil Trapp and Bernardo Anor helped share his free-kick and corner-kick responsibilities. No one was able to make Higuain’s type of impact on the scoreboard, however — the Crew took 24 shots, but only three were on target. Asked if Higuain would have made a difference on a night when a necessary final touch was nowhere to be found, Warzycha said, “I don’t want to speculate, but definitely he would help.” Higuain also must sit out Wednesday’s game.

First picks

In his first career start, Finley finished with two shots — one on goal — and drew the Seattle red card, but he still is searching for his first career goal. The same goes for the Crew’s previous first-round draft pick, Ethan Finley, who has 29 appearances in two seasons. Only two other first-round draft picks from the past 10 years remain on the roster: midfielder Justin Meram and Marshall. Finley earned his start after a three-goal effort in a reserve league game on Tuesday against FC Dallas, but Warzycha was not interested in discussing his performance against the Sounders. “Listen, we lost the game 1-0, so that’s probably my explanation,” he said.

Playoff picture

Sportsclubstats.com downgraded the Crew’s postseason chances to 0.5 percent, and that was before Houston and Chicago tied yesterday afternoon. The Crew (8-13-5, 29 points) is all but guaranteed to miss the postseason in consecutive seasons for the first time since a three-year span from 2005 to ’07. New England and Houston are eight points ahead of the Crew and tied for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, although the Revolution holds the tiebreaker. Houston also has a game in hand on the Crew, and the Dynamo will be playing at Crew Stadium on Wednesday.

Digital

523: Minutes since a Crew player not named Higuain has scored

5: Seasons in which the Crew has lost 13 or more games since Major League Soccer did away with shootouts in 2000

13: Games since the Crew’s last tie, the longest active streak in MLS

Quotable

“It’s not effort; we weren’t playing smart. Everyone wanted to score a goal, and that’s what usually happens: You’re playing a man up and everybody wants to take a chance and score a goal and doesn’t see the player who is probably in the better spot.” — Warzycha